The 74th Berlin Film Festival opens on Thursday, February 15 and features six Korean films, including the most recent feature by renowned filmmaker Hong Sang-soo.
The competition category will be contested by Hong’s “A Traveler’s Needs,” which stars Isabelle Huppert, Lee Hye-young, and Kwon Hae-hyo. The French actress, who plays a French instructor to two Korean women, and Hong have worked together on three films.
The piece explores the harsh realities of life and the value of communication. With this film, Hong has been invited to the Berlinale for five years running.
Since 2008, the filmmaker has had six films in the competition section of the festival. at “On the Beach at Night Alone” in 2017, which won the Silver Bear for Best Actress for its main actress, Kim Min-hee, to the present day, he has received four Silver Bear awards at the event. Hong was awarded the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize in 2022 for her film “The Novelist’s Film.”
The mystery thriller “Exhuma,” starring Old Boy actor Choi Min-sik, will be screened in the forum category, while the action comedy “The Roundup: Punishment,” starring Don Lee, will be showcased in the special gala part.
The fourth film in the “The Outlaws” (2017) series, “The Roundup: Punishment,” will screen in the Berlinale Special Gala area. Don Lee reappears in a new role as the “monster-cop” who takes down criminals in the Philippines.
The Roundup: Punishment was directed by Heo Myeong-haeng, who previously collaborated with Lee on the Netflix original movie “Badland Hunters” and served as the martial arts director for earlier “The Outlaws” movies.
The mystery occult film “Exhuma,” directed by Jang Jae-hyun and starring Choi Min-sik, Kim Go-eun, Yoo Hae-jin, and Lee Do-hyun, will be screened in the experimental cinema area of the Forum. The story of “Exhuma” centers on two shamans who respond to a wealthy family’s request to dig their ancestral grave in Gangwon Province. Unsettling things happen after something breaks out of the dug-up coffin.
“It’s Okay!” by Kim Hye-young and “Circle,” an animation directed by Joung Yu-mi, were accepted to compete in the generation competition area and the shorts section, respectively.
Furthermore invited to the forum special segment was the documentary “Voices of the Silenced,” which is an anthology of interviews with Koreans who endured hardships under Japanese colonial control.
The European Film Market will be held concurrently with the 74th Berlinale from February 15 to February 24. This year’s festival’s international jury will be led by actor Lupita Nyong’o.
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